Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)

Accelerated Graphics Port (often shortened to AGP) is a high speed point-to-point

channel for attaching a video card to a computer's motherboard, primarily to assist in
the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. Originally it was designed as a successor
to PCI type connections. Since 2004, AGP has been progressively phased out in favor
of PCI Express (PCIe). By mid-2008, PCIe cards dominated the market and only a few
AGP models were available.
AGPS Advantages over PCI
As computers increasingly became graphically oriented, successive generations of
graphics adapters began to push the limits of PCI, a bus with shared bandwidth. This led
to the development of AGP, a "bus" dedicated to graphics adapters.
The primary advantage of AGP over PCI is that it provides a dedicated pathway between
the slot and the processor rather than sharing the PCI bus. In addition to a lack of
contention for the bus, the direct connection allows for higher clock speeds. AGP also
uses sideband addressing, meaning that the address and data buses are separated so the
entire packet does not need to be read to get addressing information. This is done by
adding an extra 8-bit "Sideband Address" bus that allows the graphics controller to issue
new AGP requests and commands at the same time other AGP data is flowing through
the main 32 address/data (AD) lines. This results in improved overall AGP data
throughput.
In addition, to load a texture, a PCI graphics card must copy it from the system's RAM
into the card's video memory, whereas an AGP card is capable of reading textures
directly from system RAM using the graphics address remapping table (GART), which
reapportions main memory as needed for texture storage, allowing the graphics card to
access them directly. The maximum amount of system memory available to AGP is
defined as the AGP aperture.

Versions
AGP and PCI: 32-bit buses operating at 66 and 33 MHz respectively

Specification

Voltage

Clock

Speed

Transfers/clock

Rate (MB/s)

PCI

3.3/5 V

33 MHz

133

PCI 2.1

3.3/5 V

33/66 MHz

266

AGP 1.0

3.3 V

66 MHz

266

AGP 1.0

3.3 V

66 MHz

533

AGP 2.0

1.5 V

66 MHz

1066

AGP 3.0

0.8 V

66 MHz

2133

AGP 3.5*

0.8 V

66 MHz

2133

AGP Pro
It is an official extension for cards that required more electrical power. It is a longer slot
with additional pins for that purpose. AGP Pro cards were usually workstation-class
cards used to accelerate professional computer-aided design applications employed in
the fields of architecture, machining, engineering, simulations, and similar fields.
64-bit AGP
A 64-bit channel was once proposed as an optional standard for AGP 3.0 in draft
documents, but it was dropped in the final version of the standard.
The standard allows 64-bit transfer for AGP8 reads, writes, and fast writes; 32-bit
transfer for PCI operations.
Unofficial variations
A number of non-standard variations of the AGP interface have been produced by
manufacturers

Internal AGP interface

Ultra-AGP, Ultra-AGPII
It is an internal AGP interface standard used by SiS for the north bridge controllers with
integrated graphics. The original version supports same bandwidth as AGP 8, while
Ultra-AGPII has maximum 3.2GB/s bandwidth.
PCI-based AGP ports
AGP Express
Not a true AGP interface, but allows an AGP card to be connected over the legacy PCI
bus on a Express motherboard. It is a technology used on motherboards made by ECS,
intended to allow an existing AGP card to be used in a new motherboard instead of
requiring a PCIe card to be obtained. An "AGP Express" slot is basically a PCI slot with
an AGP connector. It offers backward compatibility with AGP cards, but provides
incomplete support and reduced performancethe card is forced to use the shared PCI
bus at its lower bandwidth, rather than having exclusive use of the faster AGP.
AGI
The ASRock Graphics Interface (AGI) is a proprietary variant of the Accelerated
Graphics Port (AGP) standard. Its purpose is to provide AGP-support for ASRock
motherboards that use chipsets lacking native AGP support. However, it is not fully
compatible with AGP, and several video card chipsets are known not to be supported.
AGX
The EpoX Advanced Graphics extended (AGX) is another proprietary AGP variant with
the same advantages and disadvantages as AGI. User manuals recommend not using
AGP 8 ATI cards with AGX slots.
XGP
The Biostar Xtreme Graphics Port is another AGP variant, also with the same
advantages and disadvantages as AGI and AGX.
PCIe based AGP ports
AGR
The Advanced Graphics Riser is a variation of the AGP port used in some PCIe
motherboards made by MSI to offer limited backwards compatibility with AGP. It is,
effectively, a modified PCIe slot allowing for performance comparable to an AGP 4/8
slot,[13] but does not support all AGP cards; the manufacturer published a list of some
cards and chipsets that work with the modified slot.

Compatibility, AGP Keys on card (top), on slot (bottom)

Power consumption
This section requires expansion.
AGP power provisioning
Slot Type
AGP

3.3 V 5 V 12 V 3.3 V Aux 1.5 V 3.3 V 12 V

6A

2A

1A

0.375 mA

2A

Total power

48.25 W

AGP Pro110

7.6 A

9.2 A

50 to 110 W

AGP Pro50

7.6 A 4.17 A

25 to 50 W

Actual power supplied by an AGP slot depends upon the card used. The maximum
current drawn from the various rails is given in the specifications for the various
versions. For example, if maximum current is drawn from all supplies and all voltages
are at their specified upper limits, an AGP 3.0 slot can supply up to 48.25 watts; this
figure can be used to specify a power supply conservatively, but in practice a card is
unlikely ever to draw more than 40 W from the slot, with many using less. AGP Pro
provides additional power up to 110 W. Many AGP cards had additional power
connectors to supply them with more power than the slot could provide.
Connector pin out
The AGP connector contains almost all PCI signals, plus several additions. The
connector has 66 contacts on each side, although 4 are removed for each keying notch.
Pin 1 is closest to the I/O bracket, and the B and A sides are as in the table, looking down
at the motherboard connector.
Contacts are spaced at 1 mm intervals; however they are arranged in two staggered
vertical rows so that there is 2 mm space between pins in each row. Odd-numbered Aside contacts and even-numbered B-side contacts are in the lower row (1.0 to 3.5 mm
from the card edge). The others are in the upper row (3.7 to 6.0 mm from the card edge).